Treatment compliance and motivation to change are among the main challenges to improving batterer intervention program (BIP) effectiveness. This study examined whether adding an individualized motivational plan (IMP) to a standard BIP (SBIP) increased intervention effectiveness relative to BIP alone. One hundred sixty males convicted of intimate partner violence were randomly assigned to receive 70 hr of either SBIP or SBIP plus IMP. The IMP is based on motivational interviewing, stages of change, and strength-based theory principles. We collected the data at baseline, at the end of the 9-month program and at 6-month follow-up. Final outcome was recidivism (recidivism data obtained from official databases, self-reported recidivism, and therapists' assessment of recidivism risk), and proximal outcomes included treatment compliance (dropout and intervention dose), and stage of change. We analyzed the results using both intent-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) approaches. Findings indicated that the SBIP plus IMP participants received significantly more intervention dose (R² = .08), finished the intervention in a more advanced stage of change (ITT, R² = .17; PP, R² = .22), reported less physical violence after treatment (ITT, odds ratio = .63; PP, odds ratio = .34), and had a higher reduction in recidivism risk (ITT, R² = .64; PP, R² = .56) than SBIP participants. These results highlight the relevance of alternative approaches, including strategies to increase treatment compliance and motivation for change, in BIPs. (PsycINFO Database Record

We examined whether neighborhood-level characteristics influence spatial variations in the risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). Geocoded data on IPV cases with associated protection orders (n = 1,623) in the city of Valencia, Spain (2011–2013), were used for the analyses. Neighborhood units were 552 census block groups. Drawing from social disorganization theory, we explored 3 types of contextual influences: concentrated disadvantage, concentration of immigrants, and residential instability. A Bayesian spatial random-effects modeling approach was used to analyze influences of neighborhood-level characteristics on small-area variations in IPV risk. Disease mapping methods were also used to visualize areas of excess IPV risk. Results indicated that IPV risk was higher in physically disordered and decaying neighborhoods and in neighborhoods with low educational and economic status levels, high levels of public disorder and crime, and high concentrations of immigrants. Results also revealed spatially structured remaining variability in IPV risk that was not explained by the covariates. In this study, neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and immigrant concentration emerged as significant ecological risk factors explaining IPV. Addressing neighborhood-level risk factors should be considered for better targeting of IPV prevention.

Attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) are increasingly recognized as central to understanding of this major social and public health problem, and guide the development of more effective prevention efforts. However, to date this area of research is underdeveloped in western societies, and in particular in the EU. The present study aims to provide a systematic review of quantitative studies addressing attitudes toward IPVAW conducted in the EU. The review was conducted through Web of Science, PsychINFO, Medline, EMBASE, PUBMED, and the Cochrane Library, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) recommendations. This review aimed to identify empirical studies conducted in the EU, published in English in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2018, and analyzing attitudes toward IPVAW. A total of 62 of 176 eligible articles were selected according to inclusion criteria. Four sets of attitudes toward IPVAW were identified as the main focus of the studies: legitimation, acceptability, attitudes toward intervention, and perceived severity. Four main research themes regarding attitudes toward IPVAW emerged: correlates of attitudes, attitudes as predictors, validation of scales, and attitude change interventions. Although interest in this research area has been growing in recent years, the systematic review revealed important gaps in current knowledge on attitudes toward IPVAW in the EU that limits its potential to inform public policy. The review outlines directions for future study and suggests that to better inform policy making, these future research efforts would benefit from an EU-level perspective.

Previous research suggests that the inclusion of motivational strategies in interventions for intimate partner violence (IPV) offenders could increase their effectiveness. This review evaluated the effectiveness of interventions for IPV offenders that includes motivational strategies to reduce physical and psychological IPV, treatment dropout, official recidivism to IPV offending, and to increase intervention attendance dose. The present systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using PRISMA guidelines. The following databases were searched from 1983 to 2018 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions for IPV offenders that incorporated motivational strategies for adult participants that included men and included IPV behaviors as outcomes: Cochrane Collaboration, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL. A total 1,134 studies were identified, 12 RCTs were included in the narrative review and 7 in the meta-analysis. Results indicated that IPV interventions that incorporated motivational strategies were significantly more effective in increasing the intervention dose and reducing dropout than interventions without motivational strategies. IPV offenders receiving interventions with motivational strategies were 1.73 times less likely to intervention dropout compared to those in interventions without such strategies. For physical and psychological IPV and official recidivism (e.g., rearrests, police record), evidence favored interventions with motivational strategies, although not significantly. These findings have important practical implications, especially considering the high dropout rates in IPV offender programs and the link between dropout and higher rates of recidivism. La investigación previa sugiere que la inclusión de estrategias motivacionales en las intervenciones con agresores de pareja podría incrementar la efectividad de estas intervenciones. Esta revisión evaluó la eficacia de las intervenciones en agresores de pareja, que incluye las estrategias motivacionales para reducir la violencia física y psicológica contra la pareja, el abandono de la intervención y la reincidencia oficial, así como para aumentar la dosis de asistencia a las intervenciones. Tanto la revisión sistemática como el meta-análisis se llevaron a cabo siguiendo las recomendaciones PRISMA. Se examinaron las siguientes bases de datos desde 1983 hasta 2018, con objeto de localizar ensayos controlados aleatorizados (ECA) de intervenciones para agresores de pareja que incluyeran estrategias motivacionales, en las que los participantes fueran hombres mayores de edad y que incluyeran como variables de resultado conductas de violencia contra la pareja: Cochrane Collaboration, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO y CINAHL. Se identificaron 1,134 estudios, incluyéndose 12 ECAs en la revisión narrativa y 7 en el meta-análisis. Los resultados indicaron que las intervenciones para agresores de pareja que incorporan estrategias motivacionales eran significativamente más efectivas en incrementar la dosis de intervención y reducir el abandono de la intervención que las que no incluían estrategias motivacionales. Los agresores que participaron en intervenciones con estrategias motivacionales tenían 1.73 veces menor probabilidad de abandonar el tratamiento, en comparación con aquellos que participaron en intervenciones sin tales estrategias. En cuanto a la violencia física y psicológica contra la pareja y la reincidencia oficial (e.g., arrestos reiterados, denuncias policiales), la evidencia, aunque no es significativa, favorece las intervenciones con estrategias motivacionales. Estos resultados tienen importantes implicaciones prácticas, especialmente si se tiene en cuenta las altas tasas de abandono de la intervención que se producen en los programas de intervención con agresores de pareja y la relación existente entre abandono de la intervención y mayores tasas de reincidencia.

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is the most common form of violence suffered by women and constitutes a serious public health problem of global proportions. Public attitudes towards IPVAW are key to understanding the social context in which this type of violence occurs. Victim-blaming attitudes are among those that reflect public tolerance and acceptability of IPVAW and are often used to explain or justify IPVAW. In this study we develop and validate a new instrument to assess victim-blaming attitudes in cases of IPVAW. A sample of 1,800 participants was recruited through social media and a second sample of 50 IPVAW offenders was used for validation purposes. Through a cross-validation approach and by fitting an item response theory model to the data, we found that the latent structure of the instrument was one-dimensional and particularly informative for medium and high levels of victim-blaming attitudes. Differential item functioning analysis showed that item parameters did not differ by gender. We found, in addition, that (a) our measure was strongly related to acceptability and perceived severity of IPVAW, and also to ambivalent sexism, (b) men presented higher levels of victim-blaming attitudes than women, and (c) IPVAW offenders showed higher levels of victimblaming attitudes than men from the general population. A five-item short version of the scale is also presented for use in studies with limited application time or space. Our findings confirm that this new scale is a reliable and valid measure to assess victim-blaming attitudes in cases of IPVAW. ,La violencia de género es la forma más común de violencia que sufren las mujeres y constituye un grave problema de salud pública de proporciones globales. Las actitudes públicas hacia la IPVAW son clave para entender el contexto social en el que se produce este tipo de violencia. Las actitudes que culpabilizan a las víctimas son aquéllas que reflejan la tolerancia pública y la aceptabilidad de la IPVAW y que con frecuencia se emplean para explicar o justificar ésta. En este estudio desarrollamos y validamos un nuevo instrumento para evaluar las actitudes de culpabilización de la víctima en casos de violencia de género. Se reclutó una muestra de 1,800 participantes a través de las redes sociales y se utilizó una segunda muestra de 50 hombres condenados por violencia de género con fines de validación. Mediante un enfoque de validación cruzada y ajustando un modelo de teoría de respuesta al ítem a los datos, encontramos que la estructura latente del instrumento era unidimensional y particularmente informativa para niveles medios y altos de culpabilización de las víctimas. El análisis del funcionamiento diferencial del ítem mostró que los parámetros del ítem no difirieron por género. Además, encontramos que (a) nuestra medida estaba fuertemente relacionada con la aceptabilidad y percepción de gravedad de la violencia de género, y también con el sexismo ambivalente, (b) los hombres presentaban niveles más altos de culpabilización de la víctima que las mujeres, y (c) los hombres condenados por violencia de género mostraron niveles más altos de culpabilización de la víctima que los hombres de la población general. También se presenta una versión corta de cinco ítems de la escala para su uso en estudios con tiempo de aplicación o espacio limitado. Nuestros resultados confirman que esta nueva escala es una medida fiable y válida para evaluar las actitudes de culpabilización de la víctima en casos de violencia de género.

This paper explored public willingness to act when exposed to cases of intimate partner violence against women, by analyzing the influence of perceived severity and personal responsibility on two types of responses: mediating and reporting to the police. Results (N = 419) yielded main effects of personal responsibility for both types of responses. No main effects of perceived severity were found. A significant interaction between perceived severity and personal responsibility was found only for reporting responses. Results are discussed in light of the helping behavior research tradition. Implications for public education and advocacy programs are also considered.